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Wednesday, 16 January 2013

#esaSOS

#esaSOS: YOUR HELP NEEDED URGENTLY!

On 28 January 2013 the UK government is due to make a set
of changes to the Work Capability Assessment (WCA). The WCA is the flawed ‘fitness to work’ test
which
assesses whether sick and disabled people can get Employment and Support Allowance (ESA): a benefit designed to help
and support very unwell or profoundly disabled people into work.

Although these changes have been advertised as small ‘amendments’,
they will in fact have a huge impact on the way people’s
illnesses and disabilities are assessed. Many vulnerable people’s needs will
suddenly be able to be overlooked or ignored, meaning they could end up
losing the support they desperately need to manage their conditions.

Hundreds of thousands of sick and disabled people across
Britain need your help to fight these changes!

PROBLEM 1: FALSE ASSUMPTIONS

In the fitness to work test, your needs are assessed by a
‘healthcare professional’ employed by the French private company ATOS. This
assessor doesn’t just need to look at your current difficulties. For example, they
can also imagine how using an aid (e.g. a wheelchair) might improve your
ability to work and make a judgement based on that – without even asking your
opinion!

However, soon this “imaginary test” will be able to be used
for many more aids (including guide dogs and false limbs!). This means that
soon thousands more people could be judged as fit to work, without being consulted,
on the basis of an “imaginary” aid they don’t own or may not be able to use!

It gets worse. Even if returning to work may clearly put you
at risk, these changes will mean you can still lose your disability benefit – as
long as the assessor believes that trying a new therapy or treatment might reduce that risk. There’s no
need for evidence that the treatment will help: you will lose support
either way, making it much harder to manage if the treatment doesn’t work as
hoped – let alone if it ends up making things worse.

>>> Imagine Bert, who suffers from severe
schizophrenia, but is found fit to work and made to take behavioural therapy in
the hope of improving his condition. He will lose his disability benefit, without the assessor having to look at several vital questions: how hard it would
be for Bert to contact a psychiatrist? How long would an NHS appointment take to
organize? Are there private options in his area – and could he afford them if
so? What if the therapy doesn’t work, or takes a long time to adjust to? <<<

"how individuals are assessed to receive ESA could give rise to large numbers of legal claims being made against them. These changes immediately puts the government at risk of breaching article 9 of the European Convention for the protection of Human Rights, which preserves an individual’s right to ‘thought, conscience and religion’. The new rules provide for an individual to be refused ESA if they do not take any medication or accept an aid which Doctors believe could aid their condition. Essentially, they can impose a financial penalty on individuals who refuse treatment on religious. Given the very recent decision involving the Christian, Nadia Eweida and the court upholding her right to wear a cross – the government is on very rocky ground with these changes.” Chris Fry, Solicitor and Managing Partner at Unity Lawwww.unity-law.co.uk"

If the government’s rule changes go through, people like
Bert who are desperate to work will find it nearly impossible to get an
accurate assessment, affecting the quality of their support and actively
preventing their efforts to get back into work.

PROBLEM 2: SEPARATING PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH

The government is also trying to change the way people’s
conditions are assessed by dividing health problems into two separate boxes:
‘physical’ and ‘mental’. When looking at what tasks people can do, only the
‘physical half’ of the test will apply to those with physical disabilities.
The same goes for the effects of treatment: for e.g., if you’re taking mental
health medication, only mental health side-effects will be looked at.

This completely fails to understand the way that many disabilities
and illnesses can lead to both physical and mental effects. This is also
the case for many common treatments: such as those for schizophrenia,
Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis.

>>> Think of Emily, who suffers severe, chronic
pain because of nerve damage to her leg. Emily is among the 49% of chronic pain sufferers who also suffer depression as a result of continuous pain. An assessor may see Emily as able to do some work as long as she takes
strong painkillers for the rest of her life, meaning she could pass the
‘fitness’ test. Yet the painkillers may not deal with the depression caused by
her condition. Painkillers have also often been shown to affect people’s wakefulness
and decision-making. So taking the medication may affect Emily’s ability to do
a job in a completely new way – yet because these new problems are cognitive, they would not need to be looked
at by the assessor when making their decision! <<<

Pretending the effects of illnesses and disabilities can be
separated in this way goes against all medical practice. Going even further,
and using this method to ignore sick and disabled people’s needs, is at best hopeless
policy, and at worst deliberate cruelty. We cannot let the government treat
some of the most vulnerable people in British society in this way.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

The main way you can help is by spreading the message
about these changes to ESA. The government have tried to sneak them under
the radar – the last thing they will want is people talking about them!

2) Share this blog post on twitter (using the hashtag #esaSOS),
Facebook and other social media; CLICK ON THE BUTTONS BELOW THIS POST TO SHARE ON TWITTER AND FACEBOOK

3) Email your friends and family a link to this post – or
simply talk to them about it!

Again, the main way we can get the government to reconsider
isby getting people to talk about the injustice of these changes. So
please spread the word as far and wide as you can!

Thank you so much for reading this far. Now let’s make sure
these unwanted, damaging benefit changes never see the light of day!If you want to do more, please sign #WOWpetition and call on the government to think again. Sign here http://wowpetition.com - and ask all of your friends to sign too!

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It might be worth drawing these new regulations to the attention of Micheal Meacher, as he has launched a campaign against the treatment of the disabled, declaring it to be a 'national scandal'. He can be messaged here: michael.meacher.mp@parliament.uk

What guidelines would the HCPs be working from to advise these recommended treatments, therapies, medications and so forth?

Considering that nurses and physiotherapists don't usually prescribe anti-psychotic drugs to patients with mental illness for example, it does seem something of a leap of faith to assume they can determine treatments without any training in medicine.

How strange then, that GPs are excluded from the decision making process as they, along with consultants are the only people qualified to determine a course of treatment for their patient's diagnosed conditions! The government lead us to believe that the work capability assessment was not a medical assessment, and they've gone to some length to point this out when challenged over it's true purpose.

If the WCA is not a medical assessment and no diagnosis is being made, therefore it cannot be ethical or safe or lawful for an unqualified person testing a claimant for the means of a social security benefit to suggest that any course of treatment is in the claimant's interest.

Will the claimant be told that they should be taking particular medications or courses of treatment? If not then how can the benefit be denied because the person claiming will be unaware. If so, then the HCP has had to make a diagnosis and is liable for the consequences of any side effects, mistakes, or worse, that may result.

In the case of people with drug addiction and alcoholism, as these are their favourite targets along with obese people, will the government suddenly be investing the tens of millions required to fund accessible rehab centres and make gastric bands freely available for all on the NHS? What about mental illness one wonders? Those people who don't know that they're ill and don't take their medication unless supervised to do so, except there's no one there to supervise due to a dire lack of care and funding? What about the fact that 3/4 of people with mental illness never have any access to treatment? That waiting lists for CBT, which is an experimental therapy at best, can be years long? Oh dear, haven't thought this through have they?

And then Lord Freud says that HCPs have no responsibility for the health and wellbeing of benefit claimants. That may have to change.

This smacks of a rotten sort of blackmail and a most hideous erosion of human rights. People can indeed choose not to abide by the rules of benefit conditions and sanctions by not making a claim, but the reality is that people don't have a choice. If they weren't too sick to make money through employment, they wouldn't be asking for their social security entitlement.

If you are poor the government seems to think they have free rule over your body and mind too now, as well as your time and how you should spend it. With many sick and disabled people about to mandated on work programmes which do nothing to counter the employment discrimination and barriers to work they will face.

This is a line crossed. The time for being polite is over. There will be pitchforks descending on Parliament. Enough is enough.

It's anonoymous decision makers at the DWP who make the actual decision about the result of your assessment. They're even less qualified then than the HCPs are. Of course medically the whole thing's nonsense but there's billions to be made from replacing the welfare system with a private insurance system so it goes ahead. No doubt our fine politicians are in line for a biiiig slice of that billionaire pie.

You have this bang on target. The point at which this should be declared illegal is that the HCPs are, essentially, deciding on what medical treatment you should be having.

The logic is simple. HCPs can say what treatment would enable you to work. They cannot say that you must have that treatment - that decision is above their pay grade. Suppose, however, that your GP or your consultant says that you cannot have that treatment. Then what?

I suppose that the Decision Maker at the DWP has to decide whether or not a medical prohibition on treatment over-rides the HCP's opinion. On past form, they will go with the HCP. However, since the HCP cannot actually prescribe therapy (and those in charge of the WRAG etc cannot - yet - force you to into a course of treatment) you will not get this treatment (whether or not it will/would work is irrelevant).

So the State is in a win-win situation. It does not have to provide you with the therapy, but it doesn't have to give you the benefit which not having the treatment would give you either.

So these people are now fully qualified doctors who can prescribe drugs? Or fully qualified occupational therapists who can prescribe aids such as sticks or wheelchairs? Or councillors who can set budgets so that everyone who needs a wheelchair gets one? This is ridiculous. Man the barricades, we're going in!

I have PTSD and a dissociative disorder so severe that I *cannot* be treated...and I am at a 'high risk' of suicide. In addition I have physical problems namely narcolepsy,heart problems and fibromyalgia.At my last consultant appointment 2 weeks ago he said the only thing they could do for me now was to support me to "live my life as best I can"I would be very interested to see how ATOS would deal with someone like me!

I actually think there is a growing sympathy in the general public with some sections of the ill & disabled (i.e.those obviously physically disabled) altough other sections are still demonised (mentally ill, obese, drugs & alcohol).

Campaigning must continue and great credit to Sue for her blog and profile when faced with her disablities. But the media tend to ignore demos,articles etc. I think the time has come for peaceful direct action, flour bombs, eggings etc. Think of the publicity of a disabled person handcuffing themselves to IDS would get.

This will be used to assess drug alcoholics a lot - at present their conditions make them unsuitable for work but they'll be assessed as if these conditions were not present, i.e., if they went into rehabs and met with success.

Of course, this completely ignores the underlying conditions that caused them to become addicts in the first place.

It won't be limited to these types of people but they will certainly be hit by this.

The private contractor Atos, which administers the government’s work capability assessments, has come under sustained criticism from MPs as they described constituents who had died shortly after being ruled fit for work by the firm.

During a powerful Commons debate which united politicians from all parties, MPs gave emotional accounts of how very sick individuals had been incorrectly assessed and told to return to work. Some of them later died of their health conditions, and MPs told of others who had killed themselves or become suicidal in the aftermath of the decision.

The Labour MP Michael Meacher described the death of a young man with epilepsy shortly after he was classified fit for work and saw his benefit cut by £70 a week.

“He became agitated and depressed and lost weight, fearing that he could not pay his rent or buy food. Three months later, he had a major seizure that killed him,” Meacher said.

“A month after he died, the DWP rang his parents to say that it had made a mistake and his benefit was being restored.”

The government’s own figures revealed that 1,300 people had died after being told they should start preparing to go back to work, and another 2,200 died before their assessment was complete, he said.

“Is it reasonable to pressurise seriously disabled persons into work so ruthlessly when there are 2.5 million unemployed, and when on average eight persons chase every vacancy, unless they are provided with the active and extensive support they obviously need to get and hold down work, which is certainly not the case currently?” Meacher asked.

He reminded MPs that Atos was paid £110m a year to carry out the assessments for the DWP but that because so many decisions were appealed, a further £60m of public money was being spent on administering appeals and that the British Medical Association had described the current work capability assessment as “not fit for purpose”.

Labour’s Steve Rotheram described a case he had heard about from a constituent, Janine, in Liverpool. “Her dad was thrown off sickness benefit in November after an Atos work capability assessment and was declared fit for work despite suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Six weeks later, on Christmas Day, Janine’s father died,” he said.

The Conservative MP Heather Wheeler asked whether Atos reviewed the cases of those people who dropped “down dead within three months of being told they are fit for work”. “At what point do we say that this isn’t working?”

Caroline Lucas, the Green party MP, condemned the “humiliating and demeaning” process which “makes sick people even sicker”.

Labour’s Pamela Nash said: “Nothing has shocked me more as an MP … than the sheer scale of anxiety and hardship caused by the flawed work capability assessments,” and described seeing constituents developing mental health problems as a result of the stress of going through the process.

Madeleine Moon, also Labour, said her constituency phones were often “clogged with crying people” distressed by the process, and described a constituent who was driven to attempt suicide by her experience of going through the assessment.

The Conservative MP Jeremy Lefroy said Atos should be placed in the “last chance saloon” by the government.

There was concern from Labour’s Sheila Gilmour about the fact that 43% of people who were found fit for work were not working the following year and were not receiving benefits. “Where are they?” she asked.

Helen Goodman, a Labour MP, told of a district nurse who broke her back at work who was found fit for work and a man who had been completely blind for 16 years and forced to give up work who was told he must go back to work after an assessment.

Labour’s Iain Wright described the distress of a female constituent with Crohn’s disease who was told she could wear a nappy to work. “The government is treating my constituents like dirt,” he said.

There was unease about the language that was increasingly used to describe benefit claimants, and one MP said claimants were “made to feel like they are on trial for benefit fraud at their assessments”.

Most speakers agreed that it was sensible to have a system in place that made sure that those capable of work were helped into work. Stephen Timms, shadow minister of state for employment, said: “The architecture of employment and support allowance is sound. The assessment system, however, is clearly not up to the load it is being asked to bear.” The current system needed “fast and fundamental reform”.

The employment minister Mark Hoban said considerable progress had been made in improving a process which was originally introduced by Labour. He said it was unhelpful to “demonise” the system with “adverse media coverage”.

An Atos Healthcare spokeswoman said: “We know that this can be a difficult process for people and we do all we can to make sure the service we provide is as professional and compassionate as possible.

“[Our workers] strictly follow the guidelines given to them by the government when conducting assessments and make no decisions on a person’s eligibility for benefits.

“We have worked with the department on improving the part of the process we carry out and continually ask for feedback from the department and those claiming benefit.”

i told you the death rate was getting out of hand with the welfare reform process and have now got round to phoning up half of all mp's with regards this news

over the coming weeks i hope to get around to the other half of mp's so we can be crystal clear that they are all know the damage being done and at any trial at a later date none of them will be able to say i was unaware as that would be a complete lie

as for justice for the many families left behind god knows it is so shocking words fail me at this time

I too contemplated killing myself n was torn with leaving two teens behind who have no other family. We come from a family of pedophiles. My physical health is getting worse bone n muscular problems. I have a list of problems which is bound to be there given my history. Iv read dwp policy covers suicide and death to. they are prepared for it and they dont have a problem with it. I read even if the person dies carry on with the assesment. All procedures and plans have been well thought out. If you ring up crisis loan social fund dwp enquiring why your payments not received they will hang up on you. Refuse to pick up. Where your meant to give up and die. The system is set up to push you over the edge where its not suicide but murder. Would you take a wage to bully disabled and sick people? What type of people do a job like this. The longer a person is kept off benefit the higher the comission they receive.390 million for the new atos/ french company. A poor person dies they still see it has a win win...they do maximum pushing over the edge while no one makes them pay for any harm they have done. They have nothing to lose but we have lost!

The HCPs get a pass on not being able to recommend stuff, because what they'll actually, formally do is advise the DWP as to what a person's capability would likely be if they had a certain aid, or what level of risk there would be if they took a medication.

Hello Sue,I am not very good with all this blogging and hash-tagging and things. Here is an MPs blog that needs to be challenged. (My own comments are awaiting moderation, and as I was a bit strong, he will probably delete them.)

Just like to say that I wrote to Liam Byrne in November re a debate on an Impact Assessment of Welfare Benefit cuts. No reply. I have since written twice asking for a reply - pointing out this is what he and his staff are paid to do. I rang the Daily Mirror with the info. They said it's no news to them unless he hadn't replied to 50 letters - andput the phone down! - and the Mirror is the only so-calledsupportive paper. I had told Byrne I was in pain writing the emails. From experience, these MPs just don't reply! None of them!! Hell, they and their staff are getting paid for this. In any other walk of life it would not be tolerated.This is what we are up against.

Fran' Liam is just like the majority of mp's who have no wish to be involved with such a high death rate with regards the sick and disabled going through the welfare reform process they choose to ignore all communication and who can blame them

They need to distance themselves otherwise it would probably kill some of them if they knew the truth

not everyone can deal with the death of others especially in Liam's case with his hands tied to the Blair/ brown government who set up the welfare reform process in the first place

The focus at the end of the day will be in the getting of justice for the families of those that have died through cooperate manslaughter from the government and their contractors ATOS

What a joke. I'm a former CPN who was trained to use CBT with some users who were experiencing major mental illness.Unlike anxiety and depression that can sometimes be helped with a short course of CBT, the approach with someone experiencing schizophrenia is very different.

It is NOT a behavioural approach, it is cognitive behavioural. It is an open ended long term way of working. It can not be used with everyone; only the keyworker/CPN who has the advanced training can assess suitability. Just a small percentage of my former patients were able to engage with a CBT approach to assist with managing hallucinations and to improve medication compliance. It is extremely demanding on the CPN's time, both in terms of contact time with the patient and the CPN's own supervision by an even more qualified practitioner.Unless the ATOS HCP is a MH Professional who is also a CBT Practitioner, any referral for "behavioural therapy" is a total waste of everyone's time.@imthenicenurse

CBT has been 'sold' the UK Govt as a magical cure for depression - limited to a handful of sessions at least some of which are entirely conducted by a computer.

They've bought the idea in the same way they bought massive amounts of Tamiflu - without any serious evidence it's worthwhile.

I'm not saying CBT isn't useful - I know people it's worked well with, but it's being applied like a 'patch' to anyone with any form of mental illness and with the assumption that it WILL cure them - which is the sort of thing only a salesman could say and only a politician could believe.

Huge numbers of people slog away at jobs that impair their health and shorten their lifespans but they accept this because of their commitment eg nurses and police officers. In fact they may well be amongst those who need to claim ESA for their severe injuries, cardiac disease and permanently damaged joints.Your "argument" belongs in the ill informed right wing press

You forget that as well as being ill - these people are often long-term unemployed - removing ESA will only make them entitled to JSA (now at the same rate).

In other words, they'll join the huge number of people seeking a handful of jobs which they're seriously disadvantaged in terms of qualifying for - what does that achieve - let alone the risk we leave genuinely ill people unable to even get help.

As a society we have an absolute responsibility to ensure those who are unable to provide for themselves are supported - that's not an option, it's not the "involuntary generosity of others" - that attitude is hateful.

Living in our society absolutely requires you supporting everyone in it - that comes with having roads and police forces and a right to 'own' stuff.

In the alternative - your selfish me-me-me option - people take over your home, take your goods, leave you bleeding in the street - is that the society you want or are you just hoping you can horde enough wealth to build a high-enough wall??

Well put SLThe alternative is the David Cameron way like in Mexico etc. all for yourself and to hell with anyone getting in your way nice man that David

It is because of the likes of him that the gangsters of the world keep rearing their ugly head as they are not a weak group of people and the likes of David Cameron meet their match

If we had decent politicians then the world would be a much more happy and secure place to live but with the likes of David Cameron and co kicking around I'm afraid the world will only stay full of hate as it takes one to know one and as history keeps telling us hate for certain groups of people never wanes

Well, do YOU know how many people work so hard that they make themselves ill, or even bring on premature death?

And if we have a clear answer to that question, then what? People being made ill by work is obviously not acceptable.

On a cultural and historical perspective there is ample evidence that those in need do have a God-given right to basic support (look, for instance, at the mutual ties of obligation and entitlement that define the patron–client relationship in Greco-Roman society), and the ancient custom of the British monarch handing out Maundy money is a vestige of a deep-rooted tradition that those in power and with wealth are obligated to help the poor. The entitlement of the poor to such largesse is indeed God-given, for this practice follows the Christian tradition imitating Christ at the Last Supper when he washes his disciples’ feet and gives the injunction to love one another.

Today, this tradition is more formally enshrined in the Acts of Parliament which created the Welfare State. See my blog http://scroungersrevenge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-welfare-state.html

Under the provisions of the Welfare State, EVERYONE is entitled to appropriate support when their need arises, for healthcare, education, support for long-term illness or disability, support for unemployment, and of course support for old age.

This is an entitlement that you have yourself, because we all have it. You have already drawn upon it, when you went to school, when you had your childhood inoculations, and indeed before you were born when your mother had pre-natal care. Should you have an accident or otherwise become disabled (and don’t be a fool and think that that cannot happen to you), you will be jolly thankful for the welfare state. And when you are demonised and spat at, or just rudely criticised by some idiot on a blog, you will then understand why the people here are saying what they are saying.

And all those here have already collectively paid for their entitlements (and for yours) by paying income tax and national insurance, and are still paying for it through VAT.

Since you are short on facts, here’s one to ponder: 20% of disabled people are working (including me), both contributing to the Welfare State and claiming their entitlements at the same time. http://www.dlf.org.uk/content/key-facts

c2c832f6-61d3-11e2-a01a-000bcdca4d7a: Have you not considered the fact that many claiming benefits now have paid substantial amounts of money into the system?

Many who are ill/disabled now have previously had jobs (and paid NI contributions/Income tax). Ever heard of the expression "there by the grace of god go I?", it might serve remembering before you repeat the right-wing press "I'm alright Jack" nonsense.

This government are hell-bent on dismantling many of the safety nets which were previously set up to protect people. Don't think for a second you will be immune from the damage they are causing.

Maybe I'm being paranoid, but it occurred to me that this is the answer to one big problem which the DWP has.

After long campaigns, the ME community finally got the government to acknowledge ME as a "real" illness - even if it does have to be described as ME/CFS. A lot of people with ME/CFS became eligible for - especially - higher rate Mobility payments and more of a hearing for out of work benefits. There are about 150,000 people in the UK with ME/CFS with many of working age.

Now the HCP can declare, with the backing of eminent medical authority (after they've just given Simon Wessely a knighthood for services rendered) that ME, CFS and anything with a similar label can be "successfully treated" with CBT and Graded Exercise. This means that anyone with ME/CFS - and probably anyone with any condition involving chronic fatigue, like MS, can be refused benefit. Maybe they will have to give them 3 months in the WRAG to get CBT and start exercising, but after that they can go back into the workforce.

Exit from the sick lists all those whose conditions come under the heading of "physical manifestations of psychological distress." Fibromyaligia, IBS, RSI, PMS, PTSD - all curable if the Atos "professional" thinks they might be treatable with CBT and a firm lack of sympathy.

The first thing the 'government' did when the lady who won a court case against them for making her work for her benefit at poundland was to say they will be changing the law so people will not be able to do the same!

This is not democracy, this is tyranny!

The fact that the tax payer is paying for someone to work for free for a business is outrageous!

Fact is, if you were running a business and the government said to you, "Here take these people on benefit and you don't have to pay them." How many businesses would turn them down let alone bother to employ anyone else?

Hmm not really you can never have a system where you are better off not working as currently is the case in the UK as there is no incentive to work and unfortunately it is not easy to separate the shirker from the striver. Thats why people were able to go on benefits straight from school and never bother looking for work.

Work must pay it doesnt. Our whole restaurant and hospitality sector in the UK is staffed by Eastern europeans. What does that say about the lazy indigenous population? You dont see them with every excuse in the book to avoid work, they just get on with it.

If you think every benefit claimant is genuine you must be having a laugh. Only the very rich or the very poor can get housing in london. What a perverted country this is.

3500 dead and counting....people have short memories and dont realise that this is a return of Nazi ideas. they put arbeit macht frei or work makes you free above the gates to the death camps, where they sent jews and the disabled to be exterminated. All Heil Cameron!

headlines like this keep the death toll rising as the benefit claimants that live alone can be prone to any excess of abuse from the DWP or ATOS

While at the same time giving the government an excuse to pursue at all costs those on the fiddle

All that happens is that the genuine claimant dies and the scrounger gets more as he is much more highly skilled in playing the system to his advantage and theirs nothing the government can do about it

so in reality all they can do is go after the weak who in general live alone stop their benefits and wait for them to die

as the labour party pointed out this week the death toll of those being reassessed for benefits is over 10000 people and that figure will no doubt double over the next couple of years

long term all sick and disabled people will have to be kept housebound to prove their many critics that they are telling the truth IDS will not stop at anything less

Lets talk about the DWP.I cant get a straight answer on if asking to have my WCA recorded will result in me being financially punished or threatened with a sanction if ATOS are incapable of holding up their responsibility. When I do fill out my ESA50 Ive got no guarantee that they will even bother to actually assess me because theyve got such a backlog of people they are supposed to be assessing but again, cant keep up their responsibility.That means up to a year of appeals trying to survive the conditions of the WRAG which oddly, despite it being made up 100% of people the government say arent currently fit to work, includes mandatory unpaid work in the work programme. If I manage to survive that, well Im fit to work and have my benefits removed. If I fail because obviously Im too sick to work I get sanctioned and have my benefits removed. If I manage to appeal and am placed in the support group where I should be I can end up having to start the whole damn thing again straight away. A life of spending more time in tribunal having the same wrong decision overturned than being allowed to live unmolested.New changes which would let ATOS judge me based on aids or medications I dont even have or may be completely unsuitable for me! They will also be able to pretend that my physical condition and mental one are completely separate.Lets talk about DLA.PIP says that if I can mobilise 20m that I dont have any difficulty walking. Even if doing so would be dangerous, if I could only do it once, and if it took me half and hour to do it. Descriptors being altered just to exlcude people. The government chopping an entire care band off completely and setting targets for the number of people they expect to cut off without any reference to if they actually need it.Lets talk about other services and funds.The ILF - gone. The SDP - gone. Care budgets being slashed so people cant even get basic help like bathing or eating. Support services vanishing due to cuts. Charities rationing their shrinking services. The bedroom tax forcing disabled people who need an extra room for equipment or carers to be financially punished. The council tax cuts meaning disabled people having to find hundreds of pounds out of their limited and set budget. The 1% uprating bill leaving the disabled, sick, unemployed and massive numbers of the working poor behind the rising costs of food, shelter, and utilities like water and heat. The NHS changes already biting making my GP worry that my meds may be refused because they are expensive.Lets talk about the media.Constant stories outlining single fraudulent or excessive claims being represented as common. The public mislead into believing we get far more than we do, that disability benefits represent a huge chunk of the social security bill when it is about 2-3% and that fraud is 43% when it is actually 0.3-0.5%. MPs demanding the right to directly control the lives of those on benefits - threatening forced treatments, cards/vouchers instead of cash so we can only buy 'approved' items, as the snow blankets the entire country saying to us that heating is a luxury! Standing up in the commons and lying with statistics that they have already admitted they just made up. Members of the public who have heads so stuffed with this rhetoric attacking me in the street, spitting at me, abusing and shouting at me, threatening me and kicking my aids away from me, all because Im visibly disabled and theyve been led to believe that means I must be a faking scrounger.Lets talk about you.So cowardly that you wont even identify yourself while you pour uninformed biles onto these pages. Attempting to conflate an extreme case to the situations of millions of people or massively varying conditions. Is that enough for me to be 'allowed' to dare complain about?

Sure I dont know what poverty is. Let me guess... just because I live in the UK somehow that means that poverty is defined in terms of having a flatscreen tv?That must mean that the thousands that struggle to feed themselves and have to rely on foodbanks just to eat, the thousands more than struggle to heat their homes and are dying in the depth of winter, the thousands more who have lost their homes and now live untracked on our streets surviving on what food is offered and living in cardboard boxes covered in newspapers, they can celebrate knowing their 'poverty' isnt as bad because they live in a rich country that still results in this.Ive had to make the decision to eat or heat. Ive had my benefits wrongly cut off and had to fight for them while sick and facing losing my home because of it. Ive had to budget carefully or face having surprise bills take away the money I need to pay for the medication I cant live without.Tell me what do you know about poverty?

Even if I lived in South Africa there are disability grants and support! Oddly, and like so many people, my ability to be happy and content is not contingent upon knowing that in the world there are people suffering more than me. It doesnt translate to me and other disabled people automatically being pathetically grateful for the ever reducing scraps we are tossed and the volume of abuse and contempt that comes with it.That attitude is nothing more than pretentious supercilious ignorance peddled by people who have no concept of what it is like to be on the receiving end.

You should be ashamed of yourself. I would suggest you go to South Africa in a township see how generous it is there. Electricity will be a luxury and running water. Internet?? Forget it!! Roof over yr head, maybe a leaky tin one. Yet you have it all here at someone elses expense and still complain. Shameful.

Everything should be earned in this world. Getting something for nothing breeds idleness which is a national disease given the number of foreign workers that are able to find work easily there. How is that then? b.c brits prefer to sit on their butt claiming the benefits.

Again may have a bit of a self-reflection before moaning so much and think about what you have contribute to society?

I should be ashamed that even in a third world country where they struggle so much that they still manage to look after their disabled yet here in this rich first world country we are busy trying to find ways to make sure we dont have to do that?

You say everything should be earned while ignoring exactly what the benefits system is for. It is there to support those who cannot earn for themselves! Go tell the child with cerebal palsy that he is entitled to no help because he didnt 'earn' it. Go tell the teenager who has Cancer that she isnt entitled to help because she didnt 'earn' it. Something for nothing is language we hear so often and directed downwards while ignoring the huge amounts of something being claimed by those at the top in return for nothing. It ignores how many people are in work struggling to cope. It ignores how many have worked for years or decades before becoming ill or being made redundant. It ignores those who are too sick or disabled to ever work. And worst of all, as your last claim of 'contribution' makes clear that it values people soely by their income tax returns rather than the numerous and differing ways in which people can contribute to our society.

You demand self reflection while never taking stock of the effects of your own position. I prefer to espouse empathy, compassion, and above all common sense.

I find it incredible how some people think that because we need to rely on benefits that we are getting something for nothing and we have never contributed to anything. I have worked since leaving school (i'm now in my 50's), i have paid my taxes and NI contributions for all of that time. i hoped that if the unthinkable happened and i or someone i loved became ill that the money i had contributed to the overall pot would offer some sort of security.

As it is i find that for all my hard work i am being penalised for needing that support in my time of need. I have taken any job offered to me in the past(including cooking food in a works canteen) so that i could pay my way and not rely on the state.

So i think the argument put forward about contributing is a little disingenuous. I have had to give up work to look after my wife who after many years working full time has had to stop working due to illness and 2 major spinal operations.

We are most certainly not better off not working, as a full time carer i am paid £58 a week, for which i am tasked with providing a MINIMUM of 35 hrs care per week. There is no upper limit to this time provision and i am often administering drugs that if she was in hospital would need the authorisation of 2 nurses to administer.

In reality i am providing care 24/7, and it is both mentally and physically stressful and with little outside support.

So ask you self a question would you work for £232 a month with no time limit on the amount of hours you put in, no holiday time and no time off?? If i need respite care (if i am unwell for instance) it has to be booked 2 weeks in advance, so in reality if i am ill i still have to carry on, if if it puts my own health at risk.

Full time carers save the state somewhere in the region of £6000 per month in care provision costs, so DO WE get something for nothing??

This 'government' has tried to tar anyone receiving benefit with the same brush. What is the difference between someone who has serious health problems and usually lives a miserable existence due to chronic pain and has to rely on a pittance, against someone who carelessly has as many children as they can, even though they know they would not be able to afford to do so if working, claim every benefit under the sun and usually end up taking a payment from the daily mail so they can run an article ridiculing and generalising anyone on benefit.

I have spinal injuries that cause chronic pain and constricted movement and take opiates and other pain killers. I can not sit or stand for more than 5 minutes because of pain. I can not concentrate on anything for long because the meds make me very drowsy and tired. I have been put into the WRAG!!! I have appealed and awaiting a decision.

I have had to fight every turned down decision for the last 15 years! I have always appealed and won my tribunal. That says everything about the DWP!!!

My son is five and Autistic. He was turned down for care allowance! We appealed and won the decision.

There is something hugely wrong with this 'government' something that will be put right at the next election!!!!!

This is horrifying! I wish I had something constructive to offer, but since I do not, I will just offer my support to you and to your readers. You have great courage to stand up against this horrible injustice. I have confidence that this situation will be righted, and I only hope that it is sooner rather than later. Good luck, and keep up the great work on keeping people informed.

Different lawyers in Toronto pain and spasm with for the trial so that you can be assisted of the first there are quite a few Disability lawyers is ensuring the right compensation for their internship at a firm. Personal injury lawyer helps with Catastrophic Injuries Compensation in Toronto wants to be another individual company and guidance can help you in your case.

[Slightly re-phrased version of deleted comment}Query: I do not know what the existing regs say, but I was struck by a couple of things when I read the new ones (from the DWP pdf).

“(5) In assessing the extent of a claimant’s capability to perform any activity listed in Schedule 2, it is a condition that the claimant’s incapability to perform the activity arises—(a) in respect of any descriptor listed in Part 1 of Schedule 2, from a specific bodily disease or disablement;"

Now the briefing paper which you reference (is it correct to call it a Spartacus paper?) says,

"Ministers have, on several occasions, made statements regarding the principle that assessments take account of the effect of conditions, not the nature of those conditions; this is a logical position with widespread support. However, the proposed separation of physical and mental conditions in the WCA seems to be in opposition to this principle."

I was struck, however, not by the separation into physical and mental (stupid as this is) but by the repetition of the phrase, "by reason of a specific [bodily/mental] disease or disablement."

This, as you have said, is, potentially, a complete switch in policy - it puts the first stress of the diagnosis which the claimant has received. From this it surely follows that:

[a] People with functional impairment but no specific medical diagnostic category - for example people with lower back pain can be denied ESA because of a lack of specificity.

[b] that it is open to the HCP and/or the DM to decide that the patient's doctors have or have not provided evidence of a "disease" or "disablement".

It is worth looking at the Wessely school (in this case Mansel Aylward formerly CMO at the DWP) and their philososphy, "Disease is the only objective, medically diagnosable pathology. Sickness is a temporary phenomenon. Illness is a behaviour”.

Many of the problems which Wessely, the international health insurers and the DWP would like to remove from the benefit system are categorised by them as "illness" - a form of behaviour. By demanding a "specific disease" these new regs allow a huge swathe of problems to be excluded.

Here for example it is open to the DM to decide that PMS, however crippling, is not a "disease". I had a GP who would only ever refer to ME as "your condition", since he didn't really believe it was anything more than hypochondria plus depression.

The ME community has fought hard to keep the long-standing ICO categorisation of ME/CFS as a physical not a psychological problem. However, we may well find that we now have to fight over the word "disease". Note the emphasis from the Aylward paper that a disease has to be "an objective, medically diagnosable pathology". No objective diagnostic test= no disease=no ESA. The word "specific" is, I believe, designed to reinforce this definition.

[c] as a further step the HCP can, presumably, look at the claimant and decide that they do not have a good diagnosis. There has been anecdotal evidence of HCP's saying, "No, you don't have arthritis," despite the presence of a rheumatologist's report listing arthritis in the medical evidence. I don't think that they are likely to decide that someone does not have cancer, but they may be able to say that there is "insufficient evidence" for other diagnoses.

This is especially the case with mental illness, where an HCP - especially one who shares a common prejudice against mental and behavioural disorders - may simply dismiss a diagnosis. There may even be no certain diagnosis to give.

Claimants can no longer say, "They may not know exactly what is wrong with me, but I do have well-documented functional limitations." If the doctors don't know what is wrong with you, or the HCP disagrees with them, then the law will soon define you as not eligible for benefit.

Hence, at this juncture, having a qualified and specialized disability attorney can provide you representation and an advantage of reassurance to turnaround things effectively in your favor. Experienced Disability lawyers are well-versed with every intricate legal bylines regarding the disability claim program. They will analyze the circumstances of the case thoroughly and accordingly chalk out defense strategy in the interest of the claimant (applicant).

Unfortunately there is NOTHING Anyone can do about what the Coalition is doing to the Disabled in this country.No Amount of Complaining will make them change their mind,They have Already let Millions die because of the Changes they have Already made.I Think this is just the Tip of the Iceberg,And if David Cameron gets back in power with a Increased Majority in 2015 you will see a Far more Reaching proposal then ever before...I Will Leave you to your own Conclusions on this...

very true Malcolm it will either be stay in the UK for most people and suffer or leave

personally that is what this government are all about they wont the poor and unproductive people whoever they are to leave the country ASAP and the measures they are using to achieve this PIP/JSA/BEDROOM TAX ETC are just the tip of the iceberg if they should win outright in 2015

throughout history the conservatives have only ever known selfishness and greed for themselves only

have we as a whole country stooped to that level where life is meaningless and where only the middle and upper classes can survive in piece ?

well that's David Cameron's vision and will never change neither will his party

This is going way beyond fraudulent claims; this is an active push to fail as many people as possible, leading to increases in the severity of conditions and leading to increased risks of death and suicides. Surely this must violate human rights... oh wait, the Tories want to take us out of the European Court of Human Rights... God only knows what will happen then.

This government treats serious and dangerous criminals better than it treats the sick and disabled. This needs to stop now. A higher agency needs to step in and stop this government, and ideally bring them to account for what they are doing.

Cameron a millionaire, his wife also a millionaire both of which inherited the money, claimed all benefits for their son Ivan. They didn't need the money but still claimed it. Now he wants to deny poor disabled people who need it to merely survive.This 'man' has nothing but contempt for human life!!As for I-diot D-ispicable S-cumbag and George Osborne, we have two of the worst people to ever to be labled human!

It is Strange that Only The Poor and The Disabled and The Pensioners are Being Hounded and Discriminated against by this Callous Government..The Wealthy The Bankers Judges who All live in a Different World then you and me.Have been Allowed by Cameron to Become Richer because they have been Given Massive Pay increases,Like The MPs in the House of Commons..32 percent pay rise..The Disabled are Having to pay for the Deficit Even though it Has Actually gone up by 3 Percent.The Reason why this Government does Not care if People Die is because if people Die they Will Save Billions...This Government Will Not change coarse but i just hope that they are Kicked out Otherwise i can really see many people taken to the Streets and Worse will follow..Because when all Hope is gone there is not much left but take the law into your own hands and many people feel like that now....

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I have a rare form of Crohn's Disease. I was diagnosed 21 years ago and have had many operations to remove strictures (narrowings in my bowel that grow like tumours) I suffer daily pain, often vomiting, malnourished and weak. I take mega-strong medications every day including chemo-style immuno-suppressants, opiates and anti-sickness injections. Sometimes I am fed into my central vein by tube, other times I can enjoy a nice meal out. I have children that I often can't look after and a husband who often looks after me.
Our lives are disrupted daily by the misery of a chronic condition.